Money Matters
by A Okay
Summary: NALEY:At Harvard there are many groups of people, but this to one exclusive group of the richest of the rich there are only two groups: the rich and the poor.N
1. Him & Her

Him: Polos. Popped collars.

Her: Rock 'n Roll T-shirts. Jeans

Him: Rich family. Trust funds.

Her: Hasn't been home since her junior year in high school. Works at Tric as a waitress.

Him: Big man on campus. Rich, snobby, preppy, asshole friends.

Her: Small group all at college on scholarship "poor".

Him: Loud, outgoing, asshole, jackass, cocky.

Her: Shy, quiet, invisible.

Him: Basketball.

Her: Art

Him: Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Her: Tree Hill, North Carolina.

Him: Frat house.

Her: Dorm.

Him: Senior.

Her: Sophomore.

Him: Harvard University.

Her: Harvard University.

"What are you doing tonight?" Brooke looked up at Haley before continuing to put on her eyeliner. Brooke wasn't like Haley. Some people called Brooke a slut. Haley called her fashionable. They both were right. Brooke had an amazing sense of style, she just wore fashionable outfits that had less clothing to them.

"Just hang out and finish my homework." Haley responded looking up from her book.

"Come on Haley." Brooke whined. "Its only the second week of school. Professors don't expect you to be doing your homework."

"Well Brooke, unlike you I have to study to keep my scholarship." Haley was broke. She was at Harvard because of a scholarship. However Brooke is what you call upper middle class. She wasn't rich like some of the kids at Harvard but she certainly had a few nice cars and a shopping budget that seemed to never end.

"But Haaaaaaaaaaaaley" Brooke protested. "This summer you promised that we would hang out more outside of the room." Brooke and Haley had been assigned randomly as roommates. They were very good friends but walked with different crowds. Brooke was with the group of rich kids right below the 'I-whipe-my-ass-with-benjamins.'

Haley however hung out with a group of kids who were down to earth and kind of ignored. It was a small group and really smart but just kind of looked over.

There was Lucas. This senior liked to read a lot, you could never catch him without a book in hand. His secret talent was basketball. He was good enough to play for any big time college, but hid his skill from the world.

Then there was Jake. Jake played for the Crimson basketball team but wasn't really noticed. He played every now and then but he was only a sophomore and his daddy didn't make a big contribution to the athletic department. Jake was also a musician. He played small clubs in the area. His goal for the year was to play at Tric. Tric was a very up and coming club that all the biggest bands came to play at. Haley also was a waitress here. When bands weren't playing people hung out there and played pool, danced, and got drunk—they also had killer chicken wings.

Did I mention that Haley's group was small? There were a few other that would trickle in every now and then like Jake's sweet and quiet girlfriend, Nikki. But the main players in Haley's life were her best friends Lucas and Jake. Brooke came in no too far after them.

"Please please please please please come with me tonight!" Brooke pressured.

"Fine." Haley gave in picking her book back up and continuing to read.

"But Haley you had prom—" Brooke stopped shocked "Did you just say yes?"

"Don't get used to it. I just figure it will be best to do it now." Haley explained. "And after tonight, you can't hold me to that promise anymore."

Brooke smiled slyly and just clapped her hands, "Now let's get you dressed."


	2. the FRBA

"I can't believe you convinced me to come." Haley said looking around at the frat party. She stepped over a pile of cans and passed out bodies. "Are they just going to leave them there?" Haley asked looking back.

Brooke pushed her along, "Its their own fault. They drank too much; they can deal with waking up with a sore back and massive hangover." Brooke grabbed Haley's hand and led her through the crowd to the kitchen. "Oh. My. GOD." Brooke stopped dead causing Haley to bump into her.

"What?" Haley asked rubbing her head.

"Look." Brooke pointed. Haley looked to where Brooke's finger was pointing.

"What's the big deal?"

"It's the FRBA." Brooke said in her shocked state. FRBA is what Brooke and Haley called the most elite group at Harvard. They didn't really have a formal name but if you said 'the rich kids' everyone knew you meant the "Future Rich Brats (sometimes a different word based on Brookes mood) of America", but only Brooke, Haley, Jake, and Lucas really called them that.

"What are they doing here?" Haley said with a scornful look on her face.

"The better question is, how did we get in here when they were here?" Brooke wanted to be a FRBA despite how much she complained about them.

"Brooke, they aren't royalty. They're just normal people…" Haley looked around motioning to everyone else, "They just can afford a gold toilet."

"That's such a waste of gold." Brooke said as they continued to walk into the kitchen. "O.M.G. its Katie. I haven't seen her in months." She turned to Haley, "You can hold your own for like two minutes?"

Before Haley had time to answer Brooke was off. Haley was finally given the time to look around and examine things. She spent at least 10 minutes taking a good look at all the surroundings. Finally she came to examine the clothing Brooke had made her wear. It was nothing really too trashy, but it was out of Haley's comfort zone—that's for sure. The washed-out jean skirt came about 5 inches above her knee. Under the skirt she wore a pair of cutoff black leggings with a royal blue shimmering halter. She topped it off with a pair of black heals and slight curls in her blond hair. The whole way there Brooke told her she looked great. Haley had trouble believing.

Haley was brought out of her thoughts by a tap on her shoulder, "Do you want to dance?" The brunette junior asked her. Haley glanced at Brooke before accepting the boy's hand. If Brooke was going to ditch her, at least she could have a slightly nice time. The kid seemed nice. "I haven't seen you around, are you a transfer?"

"Umm, no. Last year I was a freshman here." Haley said. If anyone had been patient enough to stop and look at the two they would have noticed a bond. Not as strong as a love bond and more than a friendship bond. They fit together like brother and sister almost. "My name is Haley by the way."

"Tim." The boy responded. "Tim Smith"

"You're on the basketball team, right?" Haley inquired. "I recognize that name."

"So you've been to our games?" Tim smiled a proud smile. "Were we any good?"

"It was last year, I can't quite remember." Haley said thinking, "I've only been to one." She added in feeling the need to. "Ahh I remember, you guys lost. Terrible actually."

"What was the score?" Tim asked. A faster song came on and they moved farther apart to dance so they had to yell louder to talk.

"70 to 82 or something." Haley said. "How do you lose by 12 goals…" Haley ponder out loud, "Actually how do you get 70 goals. Maybe it was 7 to 8. That makes more sense."

Tim laughed. "They're not goals, they're baskets." He corrected. "And yes I remember that game. We lost to Boston College. Coach was pissed."

"How you do get 70 goa- baskets in one game? Is it a really long game?" Haley was shocked.

Tim smiled, "Why don't we take a walk on the beach and I can explain it all to you."

"So then my mother was like—" Tim was cut off from his story when Brooke ran up to them.

"Haley where have you been? I've been looking for you forever." Before Haley was even able to take a breathe Brooke grabbed her hand and pulled her off.

"Nice talking to you Tim Smith." Haley called back.

"Who was that?" Brooke asked with a sly smile.

"Just a friend." Haley explained. "He feels like the brother I've never had."

"You mean the brother you never see." Brooke corrected.

"Whatever, let's just get home. I'm tired." Haley headed to the car taking the keys from Brooke and heading back to their dorm.


	3. That's My Seat

Authors note: I tend to write short chapters- it's just my style. I really try to make them long I just can't; it's not in my nature.

This is a Naley

FRBA: Nathan, Tim, Mouth, Felix, Chris, Rachel, Peyton

Almost FRBA: Brooke, Bevin, and random people I will add in

Scholarship students: Haley, Luke, Jake, Nikki, and others who will be randomly named.

::::::::::::::::::

Haley stuck on her left shoe before grabbing her keys and rushing out the door. She had 10 minutes to get to class but she normally liked to get there at least 7 minutes early because then she was able to get a seat in the back and not be bothered by anyone.

She scrolled through the artists in her ipod until she landed on 'Dropkick Murphys', a band she never understood until she actually lived in Boston. She was just about to click on 'Sunshine Highway' when… "Umph" … She hit a—wall?

"Uhh sorry." She heard a man's voice say. "I must not have been looking where I was going."

When she looked up she saw one of _them._ A FRBA. What was he doing apologizing? And why was he staring at her like that. It freaked her out so she just started to walk away. It had been like he was trying to see into her. Just as she was almost out of earshot she heard him mutter, "Fcuken bicth watch where you're going next time." Haley turned on her heals to look at him. He didn't seem to notice for he blew past her in a cloud of rage.

Haley just continued walking putting the incident out of her mind. Excluding the first five seconds, he had been exactly how she had expected a FRBA to act.

"Hey Haley." A familiar voice said as he sat down in the chair next to her. Haley's head shot up. No one ever talked to her in class, especially this class. She sat in a seat in the far left corner of the auditorium; it was the seat hidden by the darkness of a blown light bulb that was never replaced and was out of the professor's sight because of a huge pole.

"Hello Tim." Haley's voice was surprised, but not as surprised as Tim's.

"I thought you said you were a sophomore." Tim slipped into the seat next to her, "You don't mind, do you?"

"No it's okay, and yes I am a sophomore." She took a notebook out of her backpack and opened it and prepared to take notes. "I take junior and senior classes."

"Wow, I wouldn't have pinned you to be a genius." Tim said shocked.

"You saying I look dumb?" Haley asked with a laugh.

"No. No. No!" Tim said in fear that he offended her and then realized she was laughing. "Oh look there is my friend." Tim pointed to a boy. "Nathan! Scott! Scott! Up here!" The boy started up the stairs. "Nathan is my friend. We play on the basketball team together. He's a senior but never went to a single class last year so they made him take this course again." Haley looked at the boy and realized that it was the boy she had bumped into.

"I didn't know you were one of _them._" Haley muttered before excusing herself and fleeing the lecture hall.

"What was that?" Nathan asked sitting next to Tim. "Great seats. I can sleep and the proffy can't even see me!" Tim just scoffed at his friend as he stared after where Haley had been with her words repeating in his head. 'one of them. them. them. them.' She said it with such disgust.

Haley ended up just walking to the art studio and began working on a piece that was still unfinished from the previous year. Every time she tried to work on it, she could never bring the right emotion to the surface. Each time she would give up a bit depressed and paint a blank and white picture.

Once she was done she looked at her watch and realized it was time for her next class. Normally between the two classes she would have enough time to run back to her dorm eat a quick meal and get back to class but since today she had skipped class and started & finished a new painting, she was running late.

When Haley got to the lecture hall, the same hall as her last class had been in, she walked up to where she normally sat but found it occupied by that klutz, Nathan Scott. She was starting at him with pure evil thoughts when the devil's spawn spoke, "You like what you see." He had the cockiest grin on his face.

"You're in my seat." Haley was trying to stare him down.

"I don't see your name on it." Jeez, he was one cocky son of a bicth.

"I've sat here for over a year. You've sat there what ten minutes?" Haley was planning to bitch and moan until he moved.

"Well I think I like it." Nathan said with that stupid grin even bigger than ever. "I like it so much that I'm going to sit here for the rest of the year."

"Ahhh." Haley groaned. "Why the fcuk can't you just move!" She was doing that thing that was worse than yelling; her voice was quiet and controlled but full of rage.

"I'm not going to move just because you have OCD." Nathan said crossing his arms.

"That's it." Haley moved to punch him but he caught her wrists. "Damn those basketball skills." Haley muttered so low that he couldn't hear what she said but he knew she said something.

"What was that?" He asked still holding her fist.

"Let go of me!" She snapped angrily trying to pull her arm out of his grasp. "Let go." She screamed in a fit. Her eyes were filled with fear. The whole auditorium turned to look at Nathan. He stood there not noticing that he had everyone's eyes in the whole auditorium. The only thing he noticed was the girl who's were filled with fear and refused to look at him. When he didn't let go of her she pulled her arm again. This time he let go and she stumbled back before literally sprinting from the room.

"Mr. Scott, please come and speak to me after class." The professor said angrily before he started his lecture.

AUTHORS NOTE:I have the tendency to change my pen name a lot. I hope that doesn't confuse you guys too much. if it helps I was "I walk the line" then "where have you been" and now "a okay" but I don't know what its going to be tomorrow or hell even 2 seconds from now.


	4. At the Art Studio

"Bad Day?" Brooke asked as Haley quietly floated into the room before flopping onto her bed. Not many could read Haley. Brooke knew Haley best, but she still had trouble sometimes trying to figure out what was going on in her pretty little mind. Lucas and Jake knew what she was feeling about half the time, Nikki about 1/5 of the time, and the rest of the world would have thought she was floating on air because of happiness.

"Yep, but I'm not going to 'sing a sad song'" Haley said getting under the covers.

"It must have been bad if you're attempting to crack a joke." Brooke said quietly. Haley pretended to not hear. She didn't want to talk about it. "You sure you're okay?" Brooke asked. Haley just attempted to smile before putting on her sleep mask.

It was past dinner when Haley woke up. She grabbed a jacket and walked quickly to the dinning hall hoping that the janitors might still be in there and let her slip in and grab something to eat.

The hall was closed. Unlike any other student who would just head to the bar that was a few hundred feet away and get some chicken wings, Haley headed on the mile and a half trek to the art room. When she finally got there she found it empty. She loved it when the studio was empty. It meant that she could turn the heat up to 85 and paint with just a tank top and her jeans.

So she turned up the heat and bent down to take off her socks and shoes. Then she shredded her parker and long-sleeved shirt.

Haley sat down in her corner, took out a new canvas and began to paint a black and white picture of dark-haired girl sitting beside a pond. She was almost done when she heard voices through the door. "Peyyyton. Can't you walk faster? I'm hungry. You already made us miss dinner."

"What's five more minutes, Tim?" Haley recognized the voices. One was of the boy she met at the frat party and the other was of the girl who worked next to her, Haley didn't know her name, she was good though.

"Tim stop complaining." Haley recognized this voice too. It was of the jeckass. "You know complaining just mast her delay mor—holy fcuk its hot in here!"

"James must be here." Everyone in the art studio called each other by their last names. No one really knew why. Someone said it was because it made them feel more like jocks. Haley didn't want to be a stinky sweaty jock.

"James?" Tim said. "You never told me about him." The room was large; it was more like a really curving and wide corridor. Haley was all the way around the bend and at the end. Peyton knew she was there because of the heat, not because she could see her.

"James is a girl you idiot." Peyton said turning on some of the lights. "And she's really good. Probably the best one here."

"I find that hard to believe." Nathan said shoving chips into his mouth.

"Attractive." Peyton said stopping to look at him. "But moving on, she's really good. This is her's." Peyton stopped, pointing to black and white painting of Jake and Lucas playing at the River Court. You could see the river in the background and it looked so real it could have been mistaken for a photograph. The only thing other than the texture that gave away that it was a painting was the artist's emotions coming through. "This painting always makes me feel scared and safe at the same time, I've always wanted to ask her what her inspiration was behind this."

"Why don't you?" Nathan said still stuffing his face with chips. Peyton gave him a face. "No really, why don't you?"

"Because she doesn't talk to anyone." Peyton said like it was obvious.

"Stuck up, huh?" Nathan said.

"No, the opposite. She's really shy." Peyton and the two guys turned the corner and the guys could see the small girl painting in the corner with her headphones on. "Hey Haley." Peyton called out. The guys stopped dead in their tracks. "What?" Peyton mistook why the stopped. "She won't hurt you." Peyton laughed. "I don't think she's ever said a mean thing in her life, never mind a hurtful thing."

"Can we just get going?" Nathan said as he motioned to Tim and walked out of art building.

"Now aren't they weird, Haley." Peyton always talked to Haley. Peyton knew Haley wasn't listening but there was something about the girl. Peyton wasn't like many of the people at Harvard. She didn't make fun of Haley. Peyton just enjoyed her company. "Well I have to get going we're going to some bar for dinner since the guys took so long to get ready."

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author's note: sorry about the long hiatus. the are a habit of mine. I will try to break it though. and I know I haven't put much naley into it but just wait it will come and when it does the chapters will get longer. this is all background information.


	5. The Art Show

A Few Weeks Later 

Over the next couple of weeks Haley reverted back to her old schedule. She would wake up, go to breakfast with Lucas and Jake, go to class, work, and go to bed. She avoided Nathan and Tim at all costs, which wasn't that hard of a task because they avoided her too.

"Haley." Brooke called pulling her out of her thoughts. "You ready to go?"

"Just about." Haley said putting the other white pearl into her ear. She had borrowed a dress, a pair of heals, and jewelry from Brooke so she could look nice on the big day.

"Hal, you don't want to be late for your very own art show!" Brooke said coming in and putting makeup on Haley. Haley gave her a face but Brooke continued.

"First of all its not my show," Haley began but had to stop because Brooke started to put lipstick on her lips and scolded her for talking.

"There, perfect." Brooke grabbed her purse, "Let's go, my little artist!"

"So I was like, oh no you didn't, and she was like yes he did and then I-" … who ever knows what Brooke talks about.

"Hey Hales." Lucas greeted seeing the girl walk up. They did a little high five. (Haley never liked hugs… not for any reason in particular; she was just not a huggy person.)

"Hi Luke, hi Jake." She did a little side wave to Jake and he smiled back. "Thank you guys for coming." Haley said a little shyly.

"We wouldn't miss it for the world." Jake said, "Or that really hot girl!" He joked as he pointed to Peyton who was adjusting the lighting on one of her drawings.

"I don't know her name." Haley said shrugging her shoulders as the girl came over.

"Hey Haley." Peyton said.

"Hi." Haley forced a small smile.

"I'm Peyton Sawyer." She said to Brooke, Jake, and Lucas. "You're on the cheerleading team, right?" She asked Brooke.

Brooke was almost stunned. An FRBA knew who she was. But then she started to think, how did Haley know this FRBA. "I'm Brooke, and these two are Jake and Lucas"

Peyton smiled and waved hello before turning to Haley, "Do you think you could help me with the lighting. I can never get it right."

"Sure" Haley said as she followed Peyton to the exhibit right next to her own. "What mood are you looking for?"

"I don't really know." Peyton admitted. "I just drew what I was feeling at the time, but I don't have some of these emotions in me right now and I'm not really good at tapping into emotions that aren't there." With that said Haley went to work.

"Oh my god." Peyton said. "You did it. I didn't realize light could be so important."

"No problem." Haley said as she began to walk away.

"Wait!" Haley stopped. Peyton jogged after her, "Do you want help plugging in your lights? I can do that."

"I'm not using lights." Haley said briefly. "It adds too much certainty to my pictures."

Haley walked off leaving Peyton confused. The meaning Peyton eventually decided on was that her paintings had so much emotion in them and to just pick one or two emotions for the light would do the paintings wrong. Haley had a way of bringing out so many emotions on one canvass. Her painting entitled "Our River Court" was the perfect example. The boys she met today, Jake and Lucas, were in the picture along with Haley and a baby (AN: the baby is Jenny). Lucas had a light and happy air about him. Jake was tired and worn out. Haley was isolated. The baby was loving. And the scenery was hopeful.

Peyton was still looking at this one painting when she felt a tap on her shoulder. "Hello stranger, or should I say strange girl."

"Hi Nate." Peyton said in a fake annoyed voice.

"You know you love me." Nathan flashed her a cocky smile.

"Yes I confess I'm in love with you Nathan Scott." Peyton just stuck out her tongue and walked away. But she called back before she disappeared into the crowd, "I love you like a dog loves the grass he shits on."

"You know what Peyton, I more than gay porn." Nathan yelled out then realized what he said and looked around to make sure no one heard him. "What are you looking at?" He snapped at a freshman who was looking at him. The boy quickly moved along. But he still felt a pair of eyes on him. He turned around and saw _the girl_ again. "What? Inside joke." Haley just turned back around and continued to look at a painting. "I didn't mean it like a bad thing. She's my best friend. Would I really treat my best friend like crap?"

Haley looked at him annoyed, "Did I say anything to you?"

"What?" He said shocked at her bluntness.

He waited for something more, but she just walked away. But a second later she was back, "You're an asshole, you know that?"

"What?" He said shocked. He didn't expect her to turn so quickly from the person Peyton described into the person who argued with him over a seat.

"You. You're an asshole. You yell across the room and then some kid looks at you and you yell at him." You could tell that Haley was angry just by how fast her hands were moving when she talked. "People who yell are weak, you know that? All it proves is that you are an asshole and have a loud voice. It doesn't mean you're strong or smart and it proves you're not a nice person." Haley turned on her heels, well actually Brooke's heels, and walked away.

"What the hell did you say to her." Peyton appeared behind Nathan and slapped the back of his head.

"Ouch, Peyton." He yelped, "I didn't say anything… to her."

"Oh god Nathan!" Peyton cried out, "You know how I feel about her. She is like art god on earth. You can't go around offending god."

"It's not my fault she gets offended over me yelling at some stupid freshman." Nathan said and Peyton's eyes bulged out of her head. "What?"

"Before we came, did I or did I not tell you to not yell!" Peyton said in a hushed voice. When he didn't answer she prodded, "Well?"

"I didn't know you were serious." Nathan said, "I mean seriously why is me yelling a problem?"

"She doesn't like it when people yell." Peyton looked around as she said this to make sure no one could hear.

"And does the world revolve around her?" Nathan asked annoyed that Peyton was making such a big deal about his mistake. Okay well it wasn't a mistake, he always acted like that, he just wasn't used to someone calling him out on it.

"Do I really need to repeat myself?" Insert blank look from Nathan here, "Fine!" She said exasperated. "She is brilliant. More brilliant from any teacher in this entire college. I have to get close to her to try to learn from her. This is more than a want to learn from her, I _have_ to learn from her. I could stare at her work for the rest of my life. There is so much for me _to_ learn. We are seniors. I have one year left at this place and my artwork is the same as it was when we first came."

"Fine. Ya-de-da-de-da, but what do you want _me_ to do about it?"

"Apologize." Peyton said like it was the simplest thing in the world. Maybe for her, but not for him.

"What? No no no no no no no NO!"

"You said-"

"I know what I said and I'm not apologizing."

"Why not." She put her hands on her hips and challenged him.

"I've already apologized to her, why should I again?"

"Oh yeah, and when was this?"

"I bumped into her the first week or so of school."

"Wow, you say 'I'm sorry' and continue walking. Real hard." Peyton turned, "I'm not talking to you until you apologize."

"What! Come on Peyton." She didn't even look at him. "The silent treatment, like that will work!" But no, she wasn't giving him the silent treatment; she was acting like he didn't exist. "Fine! You little… ahhhh." A frustrated Nathan went for a walk before he went looking for Haley.

Once Nathan had calmed down he had started to look for Haley but couldn't find her. After about 20 **long** minutes of looking he finally spotted her with two guys. One blonde and the other brunette looked really familiar. Without hesitating he walked over to the three. "Haley, can I talk with you?"

The three slowly turned to look at him, all with their mouths hanging open. "What do you want Nathan?" The brunette spoke up. Now he knew where he'd seen him. He's on the basketball team; Jake was his name. He never got played much. He wasn't too bad, he just wasn't that popular and the crimson needed all the fans they could get and 'if you play a nobody you get no fans'.

"Haley, can I talk with you." The two boys gave him a look to continue. "Alone."

"Whatever you have to say you can say in front of us." The blonde boy stepped forward. "And if you can't then you better just go."

"What?" She spoke for the first time.

"Umm." Nathan stuttered. He wasn't used to apologizing, especially in front of a crowd. "Ijustwantedtosayiwassorryforyellingbefore."

"What?" Jake said before getting a look from Nathan.

"I saaaid, I'm sorry for yelling before." Nathan looked down while shuffling his feet.

"Okay." Haley said expecting him to leave.

"Aren't you going to forgive me?" Nathan looked up. He knew if he screwed this over Peyton really wouldn't talk to him.

"No."

"Why?"

"Because I don't."

"But it wasn't directed at you."

"But you're an ass and you obviously don't feel any actual remorse and will continue doing it, but it accept your apology. That's the best you can hope for."

"Okay." Nathan forced a small smile.

"Okay." Haley said as Jake tried to start up a conversation between the three trying to avoid the awkwardness of Nathan still standing there.

"How'd it go?" Peyton asked eagerly as he neared.

He was about to tell her the truth. The truth being that she didn't forgive him, but instead said. "She accepted my apology."

"Great!" Peyton said pulling him into a hug, something that he only did with Peyton, never another girl.

"Are you turning into a lesbian on me?" Nathan joked earning him a slap on the arm. He knew his relationship with Peyton was better, but he still was uneasy about Haley.


End file.
